Bad Nights and Close Calls
by illocust
Summary: Dick has nightmares about all the bad things that have and could happen to those he loves. Some nights he even has a good reason for them.
_Please note that the characterizations of the various batfamily members in Dick's dreams are the results of Dick's fears. It's not a commentary on the characters, but a manifestation of what Dick is most scared of._

* * *

"I almost lost you."

Dick's nightmares always came in a sickening combination of frustration, desperation, and impending doom. He knew what was coming, but no matter what he did he couldn't save anyone.

He'd be walking through a maze of dark corridors with Jason, sometimes as an angry Red Hood and other times as a plucky Robin, but always Jason was cocksure and certain he could take on anything. Then he'd hear that laugh. It would be distant, yet he knew with absolute certainty it was coming for his brother. He'd try to grab Jason, pull him away, but Jason wouldn't go with him. Younger Jay would twist through his hands, always just barely out of reach, employing all the tricks he'd been taught as Robin to avoid Dick's grasp. While older Jason would just stand there as if he weighed a thousand pounds, immune to his older brother's attempt to budge him even an inch. The Joker's laugh would get louder, morphing into taunts about broken birds and ruined punchlines, and Dick would grow more and more desperate. He'd plead with Jason to just come with him away from the danger. Jason would tell him he was over reacting, yell at him to leave him alone, or simply ignore him completely.

Other nights, he would wander into Bab's living room as her doorbell rang. She'd come rushing in, heading for the door. He'd block her path, physically bar her from the door. Try to explain what was on the other side, and why she couldn't open it. She'd tell him he was being ridiculous. She would slip by him, push him out of the way as she began undoing the locks. He'd beg her. Please, please, don't open the door. Covering the locks with his hands to try and slow her down. She'd get angry at him then. The silent kind leading up to an explosion, like a volcano about to blow. She would ignore him, tearing his hands away from the locks as she continued to undo them, a slow march of inevitability. He'd scream at her then. Yell at her, while frustrated tears sprang from his eyes, that she just needed to trust him. He was trying to save her! She would just dismiss his warnings, no matter how loudly he made them. She would look at him with disgust and state she wasn't his verbal punching bag. If he wanted to act like a child he needed to leave, but if he wanted to stay he needed to act like an adult. Then she'd reach for the door knob.

Dream Damian would always argue with him from the start. They'd be fighting about him refusing to listen or treating others badly, and then something would happen, Dami would shoot a grapple with a fraid rope, the boy would walk backwards without seeing the edge of the roof, Talia would appear with a mad gleam in her eye. Something would happen and he'd try to shout a warning, but Damian would be furious and refuse to listen.

Tim never yelled at him or got angry. He simply ran. Down dark alleyways and streets. Across bridges and rooftops in strange foreign cities. Dick would call out for him beg him to come home, but Tim wouldn't stop. Sometimes Tim would call back that he was fine. He needed to do this on his own and he was okay. Most times he wouldn't even give Dick those small comforts. He would just run quiet as the dead. Where Dick couldn't even be certain he was going the right way in his desperate attempts to keep up.

All Dick's nightmares were the same. He was helpless, impotent. Nothing he could ever do or say would be enough. He was going to lose everyone he ever cared about, and he would be powerless to stop it.

Tonight it was Tim. His little brother had claw marks in his stomach. Gashes that dripped blood as he dropped into the sewer lines. Dick needed to get Tim home before he died, but he wouldn't slow down. He was pursuing the thing that hurt him. He refused to stop before he'd finished his job. As the sewer tunnels transitioned into office hallways, Tim did everything he could to slow Dick down. Thrusting chairs into his way. Slamming doors in his face. Telling random passerbyers to slow him down. Dick just barely kept up with him until he rounded a corner and he was suddenly separated from his brother by a large chasm. It had no ceilings, floors, or walls. Tim was standing on the other side with a tunnel leading into blackness behind him. He gave Dick one look then turned and disappeared into the darkness.

—

Dick didn't so much jerk awake as come to the sudden realization that he wasn't staring across a void at the place Tim once stood. He didn't know where he was, and the understanding that he had failed didn't waiver. Dick took a deep breath and opened his eyes. The sight of the batcave answered the question of where, but a quick glance at what he'd been sleeping on did nothing to quell how he felt.

He was in the chair they kept in the medical section of the cave. His head had been resting against Tim's arm. Tim was laid out on one of the cots, bandages wrapped around his stomach and left leg.

He remembered what had happened. Killer Croc had gotten Tim in the stomach first, but his claws hadn't cut deep enough to pose an immediate danger. Dick had stupidly chosen to keep trying to capture the criminal. Tim's injury wasn't stopping him from dodging, jumping, and fighting, so he had thought his little brother would keep for the few minutes it took to finish the fight. It was dumb, not a minute later, Tim was slow moving out of the way and Croc grabbed him by the leg. Dick had managed to shock Croc into letting Tim go, but his claws had left much bigger gashes in Tim's leg than his stomach.

The wounds had been bleeding freely, and this time Dick had not hesitated to throw Tim over his shoulder and grapple to the nearest rooftop. He'd sent an SOS out over the coms, while he put a field bandage on Tim's leg. Batman arrived as he finished applying it, and they switched places. Nightwing and Red Robin went into the Batmobile as Batman jumped out to finish the fight with Croc.

The subsequent mad race back to the cave and desperate arrangements for Leslie to make a midnight emergency visit to save Tim, had made it all too clear how close he'd come to losing his little brother. If the Batmobile had been on the other side of the city instead of nearby, Tim could have bled out before they even got to the cave.

Tim had lost consciousness, and once he had been stabilized, Dick had let the adrenaline crash put him to sleep as well. Now as he lifted his head off the cot, he could see that they were both awake. Dick's waking must have woken Tim up, or Tim's waking must have woken Dick up. Either way, Tim was blinking blearily at him. They were both alive and conscious. He couldn't be more grateful.

Dick leaned over and gave Tim a careful hug. Making sure not to touch or move Tim's stomach. Tim had always been the most willing to accept physical affection of any of his brothers, so he just hugged Dick back without question. "I almost lost you" Dick whispered. He needed to say it. Needed to acknowledge how close they'd come to having another funeral. Another gravestone to visit.

"I'm fine now" Tim whispered back, giving him a squeeze to emphasize his point "Everything is okay". Dick just hugged him tighter.

* * *

 ** _End Notes:_**

 _Dick is better with people skills than Bruce, but he is still endlessly frustrated and terrified when people won't listen to him while he's trying to protect him. He can be a bit of control freak when someone he cares about is on the line. That is why his nightmares center around being ignored as his loved ones walk blindly into danger. The idea of his natural charisma failing him when he most needs it scares him._

 _I might write a continuation of this fic. There is room for a second chapter with some Tim and Dick bonding, but I'm not quite sure how to play it out yet. Feel free to give suggestions in the comments._


End file.
